How did you get on?

[flightliner]

Ps/ my biggest Roach was a three lb fish from a stillwater.

 

[John Aston]

What could be more fitting for Boxing Day than trotting for grayling on a still , cold and misty day ? On the lovely Rye , with the trusty Harrison 12ft , a centre pin and a bag of worms (we don't do maggots ). A grayling of about 1-8 after 5 minutes, followed by eight others, all but one 1lb - 1-4 ish on a river which looked amazing . Years of droughts had often made the river look a bit down at heel in the last decade , but as it's been raining nearly every week since summer 2022, it looked amazing . Every stone looked polished , the flow was strong and I was seeing ranunculus grow where I'd never seen it before. And that addictive thump of a grayling in fast water never palls .

I read an advertorial piece recently by some well known angler plugging his trout fishing holidays in Finland. He moaned about how every river in England is full of sewage. It wasn't the rivers that were full of s**t , but the person claiming they were. God knows we have problems, but sometimes we need to appreciate what we have too...

 

[@Clive]

Hopefully the extra water that has fallen this year may have washed away some of the algae that had been building up. It would be nice if nature was given a bit of help.

 

[ian g]

After cooking Christmas dinner for eleven yesterday , I fancied a few hours by the river . Late start fishing for 12 . Very slow start not a sniff until 2.30 when I had a tentative bite on the tip rod , just something pulling the end of my worm . This was a start and I soon landed a perch around 8 oz , then another a similar size on the float rod . Had a salmon jump through my swim and as the day progressed small stuff started topping , finished the day off with a better perch around 1 1/2 lb on the float rod . Great to get a bit of fresh air and a few fish , cooking again tomorrow.

 

[Steve Arnold]

I managed a few hours on the Lot this afternoon, sunshine promised but that only lasted two hours and it never felt warm. But for this time I was alone, after Christmas and that was badly needed!

Only two fish, the first did not count.....

It fell off the hook and swam away, I hope it makes it to the New Year!

The second fish was a good barbel, not weighed. With the low temperatures and cold river I was happy with this....

Every fish is a bonus when the river is so high and cold!